Bishop and the Sierras

Hey Everyone!

So its been a few days since our last post, and since then Eric and I (Lee) took a drive from Eric's (Wysocki) apartment to Venice Beach and then up the pacific coast to Big Sur.  (By the way, Jeff has been in Joshua Tree since we left and was reunited with us in Bishop.)  It was a beautiful drive and it was surreal to be on the beach in 80 degree weather, with our feet in the sand and a frisbee in our hands.  We got to big sur a little after dark, and set up camp with an incredible view of the ocean.  We woke up and did some hiking in the national forest.  It was awesome to have a lush forest to hike through, and even more beautiful was the coast, abundant with bluffs and coves.  From there we made the horribly long drive to Bishop, a drive we realized that despite being only 200 miles as the crow flies, was a 400 some mile drive that took us withing 130 miles of LA.  not very good planning on our part but its all part of the experience. 

We pulled into the pit at 11:30pm, our home for the next two weeks, and crashed in the jeep for the night.  I woke up, looked out the window, and saw the beautiful sierras towering over the campground.  That day, tuesday, we went to the happy's.  It is a valley cut into a plateau, filled with hueco like volcanic boulders.  We got on some very cool classics, and i managed to send Rene, v5, in three tries.  Its a really nice 15 degree face that stands at about 18 feet.  It all comes down to locking off a two finger pocket crimp and standing up to a crimp rail.  Eric was close, but was having trouble getting his alleged sausage fingers into the pocket.  so he shotgunned a beer to dull the pain, and jammed them in, but didnt quite send.  He is close.  We have all racked up projects and were hoping to put them down and gain some more. 

 On Wednesday Eric and I went to mammoth due to 9" of fresh snow on tuesday night, and skied glades and fresh snow all afternoon.  it was a nice change of pace, despite being way expensive. 

We are waiting for better weather to head to the buttermilks, due to it being set in an alpine meadow, and thus conditions are always colder.  in due time. 

Big Sur

Happy Boulders Parking Lot

Lee working "The Clapper"

Lee sending "Rene"

Eric bearing down on "Rene"

Top of the Plateau

Afternoon Moon

Jeff working "Solarium"

Eric sussing the beta on "Serengeti"

Jeff working a v4

Greetings from Hotel Wysocki!

So since the last update, i realized i slightly tweaked my wrist on a top out, so i took a few days off.  Eric, Brianna, and I went for a day hike up Big Horn Mountain and saw the amazing view of the park from one of the highest points.  I believe we gained in between two and three thousand feet of elevation.  One of the nights, (wednesday?) we went on a pseudo-caving adventure through one of the piles of joshua tree rock.  we left camp at around 10 pm and the catch is that once you're out of the car no headlamps are allowed.  The entire thing is based on feel and instinct. Pat led the group to the entrance and then led us through each obstacle, including dropping off of boulders, climbing up others, climbing tight chimneys, and the birth canal.  A slot you must squeeze through; the only option being to lay flat on your back with your arms stretched out above your head, and push through to the lip with your feet and then pull once you get to the lip. it was awesome, for most of the chasm you could not see your hand in front of your face.  We got to the top, savored the moonlight which seemed so bright after pitch blackness, and then dropped back in to finish at the bottom.  It was an exciting experience, one that i don't feel many people get to do unless they meet someone who has done it.  however i dont believe i could find the entrance again...

On thursday we bouldered.  I sent a few things, including sloper safari v4, raspberries? v6, sawaxing on the DL v5, and newtons Law v5.  Jeff sent sloper safari and DL both of which were projects for him, Eric sent sloper safari

Friday Eric and i did routes, starting with a 5.8 hand and fist crack; albeit its shortness (35 or 40 feet) was super fun and had great jams.  We then did Stitcher Quits, 5.7 the classic run out joshua tree slab.. It was 100 feet with 4 bolts, and once you get to the anchors at the top, you basically solo up to the top (easy easy slab) and then walk off. It was super fun.  We then did the Headstone at Ryan Campground.  Its the prominent feature in the area and i had been eyeing it up since we got to jtree.  It was fun, a little exposed, but great climbing and it was stellar to be at the top of this cruiser.  We wish we had spent more time on routes, but due to my wrist and what not it ended up being a neglected part of the stay, just all the more reason to come back!

Friday night Brianna Eric and I made our way to Hotel Wysocki in the valley above LA.  He put us up, gave us showers, carrots and hummus. what more could a drifter ask for?  we went out in town friday night and i woke up after a few hours sleep to drive Brianna to the airport.  It seemed like her being here flew by and i cant seem to figure out where the time went.  It was so fun having her for this leg of the trip, with beautiful weather and sun.

We went for a hike saturday afternoon in the Angeles National forest.  The hike turned out to be an 11 mile loop that climbed a mountain for 6 miles. We saw so many different forests on this mountain it was wild;  spruce forest, areas of mainly bushes and underbrush, and other huge deciduous forests.  It was a nice change to see a lush green deciduous forest after spending so much time around cacti and other plants that aim to kill you.

We stayed the night last night and this morning we are headed to the beach, yep venice beach, and then driving up the coast to Big Sur for some hiking tomorrow morning and bishop on Monday!

Lee sending Newtons Law

Jeff Sending Sawaxing on the DL

Eric and I climbing the Head Stone

Packing it in

Sunset on Erics Hike

Top of Big Horn Mt.

Hello from Joshua Tree

Hello from Joshua Tree National Park, California. Jeff here, this place is awesome, definitely the most scenic place we've been so far. At night the combination of boulders, stars, and of course the Joshua trees create the feeling of existing on another planet, its wild. The sounds of howling coyotes greet us in the morning and sound us to bed at night. As far as the climbing goes, it's varied which is awesome. The rock is sharp, no joke but consistent and fun to climb. I sent a 23ft V3 "Satellite Left" which was most exciting, sent a V4 "Yaba Daba Don't," very cool climb. I also have three V5 projects going in one area which is exciting. Again we are meeting new awesome people, we've been climbing with our neighbors Roy and Pat from Maryland and Jidae (He-day) from Japan who has an amazing story. He has been traveling on a bicycle for almost three years now, we will actually be with him for his last days of his trip. He traveled through Argentina, Mexico, British Columbia, Alaska to here, quite inspiring. He is quite the spirit to have around, Roy and Pat took him while he is here but needs no one to depend on. With an apparently vigorous work out and stretching regiment he is a strong climber with only four months under his belt. Saturday day night was possibly the coolest night we've had. With new friends and some strangers hanging around a camp fire, the language of spanish flying all over, we had a great night of music from Barcelona and from our neck of the woods as well. Feeling good, feeling fine, here's to next time.

Hello Lee here, Josh is a very cool place.  As jeff said, it seems to be from another planet... or the land before time... or the Flintstones.  This leg of the trip has been very good so far, starting out with my birthday on friday.  We went to the 5.10 outlet in the redlands, and got two new pairs of shoes, because all of mine are on their way out.  on saturday we climbed with our delaware friends along with Jidae, the three of which were camped next to us but we ended up meeting at our warm-up boulder.  They gave us a very good introduction to the area, including the classic "yabba dabba dont", "not so thin lizzy", "thin lizzy", and "White Rastafarian":  The proud 25 foot arete with a committing move to a sloper gaston, that moves into an exposed top out.  I was aware of the potential consequences of the move; a friend from home, Brad Frankenfield, fell from the move and tore ligaments in his ankle due to landing past the pads on the ground.  So i knew i would either feel comfortable and send or have to bail risking injury.  I pulled on and every move felt awesome, i stood up to the big move, and executed, and flashed the problem.  I felt rather comfortable throughout the whole thing.  I believe it was a situation where everyone on the ground was much more uncomfortable than I was.  We then went to stem gem to close out the day, and i didnt send but was very intruiged by the balance of the problem.  We had a great fire that night with such a good energy brought on by the vast range of people we were with.

Yesterday we climbed in a different area and It was very good however i was pretty tired so tried a number of things but didnt spend too much time on any one thing.  Eric and i did however find an interesting boulder not in the guide that had really interesting movement, we think it goes at v2 but in josh style it requires a lot of beta.

I made contact with Eric Wysocki a friend from highschool who know lives in LA and we will be meeting up with him on friday night to go out on the town.  So expect more pictures and an update then!

auf weidersein.  

It's Eric. I'm gonna make this short and sweet. Like ginger ale. California is totally awesome. Dude, the people are so rad and mellow. Man, the climbing is like .... Wahpow! It's gnarly brah! It's like ... Mars man, totally far out.
On a more serious note I really do love California. Between the landscape here and the vibe of the people I can already see myself moving to this state so I am excited to see what the rest of California is like. The rock here is great to climb on and I'm pretty stocked on sending some crack routes on gear tomorrow.

Love, peace, and chicken grease.

Jeff on Yabba Dabba Dont

Lee sending White Rastafarian

Eric working Pig Pen

Saturday Night Fire

Goin' to California

Hey, Lee here,
 I'm going to keep this short because i'm pretty well exhausted after climbing.  To catch up from last week, we decided on saturday or sunday that we should stay here until tomorrow, thursday, rather than leave on monday after picking up Brianna from the airport.  (which went very smooth by the way.) We all had projects to send and none of us were quite ready to leave Hueco yet.  As far as the climbing goes, i feel i grew accustomed to the rock here and was able to put down two projects and send quite a few more boulders than last time we updated.  my strongest sends here were: Lobster Claw v5, King Cobra v6, and just today, Hobbit in a Blender v5.  I have also climbed some other awesome boulders and worked a bunch as well.  I am really close to see spot run v6, which is an awesome highball with about a 15 degree overhang.   Unfortunately due to its sharpness, i could only give it a few goes per day and had to leave it unfinished.  King Cobra is an awesome compression problem and is easily the hardest v6 i've ever climbed and much harder than the v7 i just recently sent.  Its super powerful and i was actually surprised to send considering how impossible it felt the first day of work on it.   

I took brianna to north mountain the day she flew in to show her some problems and the area in general, and yesterday we bouldered on north.  It was a really nice day and she came close to sending a few boulders and completed others.  Today however, we went on a tour with a group of kiwis (new zealanders) that are staying at the ranch; and brianna hurt her ankle warming up.  We wrapped it up and she kept it elevated all day, and it seems to be doing rather well, hopefully she will bounce back.  The kiwis are a very eclectic bunch and they are all super strong and one in particular has been showerless for a month (see isaac below.)  I opened a new zealand climbing magazine one of their mothers sent to see wiz, who was sitting across the table, in a petzl ad on the back and an interview inside.  check out his blog at World of Wiz.  We got on quite a few hard problems and wiz gave slashface a few good burns.  at the end of the day i sent hobbit in a blender in a few goes and it was great steep climbing.

We decided since we stayed here longer to bail on vegas and the grand canyon, and head straight to joshua tree for some hopefully awesome climbing.  we will soon find out!

until next time, adios 

Check for more from jeff and eric in the future.

Jeff on La Balance

Eric on Lip Sync

Lee on King Cobra

Brianna on Nobody gets out of here alive

Brianna barely getting out alive

Wiz working Slashface

Isaac pressing it out (notice the grimy ankle)

Chase sending Sunshine

Hueco Sunset